Enchanted to Meet You
by TokiDokiIchinose
Summary: Yuuri Katsuki, the Prince of a land he loves calling home, lives a life of solitude in the castle his family inhabits. It's not like he wishes for otherwise, but those around him encourage him to expand his horizons and keep trying. Giving up, he agrees to try one last time. This time, he's grateful he's said yes. (Based off the song Enchanted by Taylor Swift)


"For the last time, I don't want to go!" Yuuri storms up the stairs and rushes to his room, slamming the door behind him. No one could possibly make him go. He refuses to give in.

"Yuuri!" His mom, Hiroko, frantically yells up the stairs after him, hoping he'll listen.

He knows that and refuses to acknowledge them, so he sits in his room and fumes quietly to himself. He feels a little guilty for yelling, but the idea of attending a party meant to find a spouse doesn't seem right to him. It can't be a real relationship that way, can it?

There's a gentle knock on his door, but he's too stubborn to open it.

"Yuuri?"

He's a little surprised that it's his sister at the door rather than his parents. Yuuri walks up to the door but doesn't make a move to open it just yet. "Yes?"

"It's just me. Can we talk? I know you don't want to, but I want to know what's wrong on your end."

Of course she does. Mari's been like this for as long as he can remember. He's not the oldest, but since he's the only son in the family, he's treated different all because he has to inherit the family name. Mari would be better suited for that, he thinks.

Instead of answering back, he simply opens the door trusting that it's just her on the other side. Lo and behold, it is just her. They stare at each other silently before he makes room for her to enter. She walks in and sits down at the desk in the corner of his room, motioning for him to sit across from her on his bed. Yuuri shuts the door, locks it, and makes his way over.

"So," Mari leans back in the wooden chair, "what's going on, bro?"

Yuuri fidgets with his fingers, thinking about how exactly he wants to word it. "I don't want to go."

"And? That's not exactly new news. Why don't you?"

"Well," he hesitates before answering again, "I don't think it's fair that you have to choose someone there."

Mari crosses her arms. "You're not the one choosing. You were just invited."

"I know, but let's say I get chosen. What if I don't like her back? I can't decline if she does choose me since I'm there and being there means you want the chance to court her."

She huffs out a quick breath of air and pauses. She's gathering her thoughts, too. They all do the same thing. "But what if you do? I'm not telling you to go, but you should be mindful of Hiroko and Toshiya. There's only so much they can do for our family name anymore. I hate to tell you this, bro, but it's all on you." Mari gets up from the chair and makes her way to the door, stopping with her hand wrapped around the doorknob while the other holds the lock. "Do what you think is right. I'll support you either way." Then she's gone.

Yuuri lies down on his bed and stares at the ceiling. Mari's right. Like always. If he doesn't go, it'll be a hit on the family name. If he does go, then he might end up miserable forever. Sighing, he gets up from the mattress. He's going to hate everything about this, he knows he will, but he also doesn't want to disappoint his parents.

Slowly, he goes down the stairs and makes his way to the dining room, where he knows his parents are discussing matters. When he enters, all conversation ends and everyone stares at him.

"I have made my final decision." How easily persuaded he was in less than five minutes. "I will go."

Hiroko stands up in excitement and makes her way over to him. "Oh, Yuuri!" His father is already laughing with happiness.

"On one condition." Yuuri holds up a finger and watches as his parents go silent. "I am allowed to leave the party early."

Both Hiroko and Toshiya look at each other before turning back to him. "We can agree to that."

Yuuri smiles depite how strained it must look and nods. At least that way he can hide long enough until his ride comes. That wouldn't be too bad. He can at least say that he was there, and that's all that matters.

A few years ago, he had his own coming-of-age party, and it didn't end too well. Yuuri refuses to relive that night, and _never_ tells anyone despite knowing that they all saw. That night ended a lot earlier than his parents would've liked, so every year he goes to as many of these parties as he can. After three years of not finding anyway, he's practically given up. His parents though... well, they haven't. Not yet at least.

"We'll call for a tailor by the morning. Yuuri," Hiroko grabs his hands into her own, "thank you."

He smiles again and stays still until she releases him, then he makes his way away from the room. He doesn't really have a destination in the castle in mind, but he does know that he wants to be away from his decision.

Happy or not, he'd be lying if he didn't say he felt better seeing how happy then were. A part of him thinks it's mostly because they want to see their kids marry who they want, and that's why they didn't question how many suitors Mari's turned away. They've never asked him how the parties went if he came back in a bad mood - which was mostly all the time.

Walking into the vast library his family has come to grow over the years, he sits down in the far corner of the room where all the stories he's read are kept. He keeps adding on to his pile, and the servants never touch it. He's positive his parents have warned everyone to stay away from it. Everyone does know that it's his. Everytime he feels anxious or nervous he comes here to get away. It started at first as a way to hide, but then gradually it changed to be somewhere he could focus his attention elsewhere. Shakespearian novels and plays were his favorites. That pile itself had grown into two different ones.

He picks up one of the novels from those two piles and begins reading. By the time he looks up again, the sun has disappeared under the horizon and there's a servt walking towards him.

"Your parents have called you to dinner, Your Highness."

He nods in response, and the servant bows before leaving the library. Yuuri settles the book he was reading down back into the pile he grabbed it from and heads for the dining room. When he enters, the rest of his family is there getting served by the waiters and waitresses. Plopping down in the seat across from his sister, Yuuri can see that everyone has their eyes trained on him once more. It makes him the slightest bit uncomfortable, but he knows that they're going to be like this until the day of the event.

"It's a week from tomorrow, you know." Hiroko is the first to speak up.

A week. He has a week before the dreaded event. How is he going to survive?

"I can hardly wait," Yuuri mutters under his breath with a sigh.

For the rest of dinner, his parents continue to make preparations and tell him how he needs to send a letter of acceptance within the next day or so. His head is spinning by the end, and he all but breaks into a run back to his bedroom. There's nothing more he wants to do than sleep away the stress. Once his head hits the pillow, he's gone immediately into slumber.

.

. . .

.

Today is the one day per a week that he can go into the town. Of course he's assigned to go with a chaperone, but he still enjoys getting to escape the confines the castle brings. The air always is so relaxing and filled with excitement as the people flit around the different stalls set up. His chaperone is one of his favorites as well. He doesn't bother Yuuri so much, and lets him roam around on his own while keeping a respectable distance.

He stops at a few that he always visits and moves along, constantly stopping to say hi to those who recognize him as well.

"Yuuri!"

Recognizing the voice immediately, he runs up to the stall owner and smiles brightly. "Phichit!"

Yuuri's handler backs up even more and checks out a nearby stall to give them some time alone.

Phichit reaches over and hugs him tightly. Yuuri returns the gesture in kind. "How are you? There's so many rumors going around this week!" Phichit pulls back but keeps leaning over his stall.

Yuuri sighs, knowing exactly why there have been rumors. "I can tell you at least that they're not rumors."

"Wait, what?!" His eyes have widened into saucers. Yuuri would laugh if he wasn't so exhausted over the whole thing. There's only three days left, and with every passing day, the more tired he feels. "Everyone in the castle has been frantic trying to prepare me for it. I wish I could back out of it now."

Now Phichit looks dumbfounded. Had he said something he shouldn't have? "Yuuri, are we talking about the same thing?"

Yuuri's eyebrows furrow in confusion. "I thought we were talking about the coming-of-age party I've accepted to go to?"

"Oh! We aren't. I didn't know you accepted Sala Cripino's invitation, though! I wish you had sent a letter to me or something as soon as you did!"

Yuuri's very confused now. "If you weren't talking about that, then what rumors have you heard?"

Phichit smiles mischeviously and looks around to make sure no one is paying attention and then leans in to whisper into Yuuri's ear. "They say Nikiforov himself is here in the town."

"What?!" Yuuri reels backward, almost falling to the ground. His loud response has garnered the attention of his chaperone, who has a hand ready on the sword at his hip. Yuuri shakes his head that he's alright and turns back to Phichit. "That's ridiculous. Why would he be here of all places? We own the smallest portion of land. Not only that but we don't trade with his land. What's the point? We didn't get word of his appearance here. They would've told us to be ready. It wouldn't make sense for him to show up out of nowhere."

"I know! Isn't it crazy? I haven't seen him myself yet, but some say they have. If I find any new information I'll let you know. I doubt it myself, but you never know. He's been known to escape his palace just to visit other lands all the time. Maybe it's high time he visits here?"

Yuuri shakes his head, completely unbelieving of the story. "I wouldn't understand at all." His chaperone taps him on the shoulder and informs him that his time is up. "I have to go, Phichit, but please do keep me informed."

"I want details of the party when you come back, too! Don't forget!"

Yuuri shakes his head but smiles as he waves goodbye to his friend.

He walks back silently beside his chaperone, lost in thought. Viktor Nikiforov and the family he lives with owns the biggest portion of the land. The patriarch of the family is Yakov Feltsman. He's taken in everyone who lives in his palace. There are two princes and one princess. One of the princes would be Viktor Nikiforov, known to be the most brilliant of all three who live there and next in line for the throne. He's not required to go to all the parties like Yuuri, as it would be easier for him to obtain a perfect suitor in no time. Yuuri, on the other hand, has a harder time with doing such because of how small his land is. No one would want to be with him because of such. That reason alone would be enough.

His train of thought is disrupted when he knocks into his chaperone's back. Yuuri looks up to find that he has his hand on the sword at his hip. Looking past his guard, Yuuri can see that a stranger wearing a cape has a sword directed at them.

"Sir Katsuki, stay back." He pushes Yuuri farther behind him and draws his sword, engaging in a battle with the stranger.

The stranger swings the weapon in response to the guard, but moreso in the style of a dance. It's beautiful the way he pushes himself away from every swing Yuuri's guard makes. The graceful way he ducks and retaliates has Yuuri mesmerized. It's only when his guard is knocked to the ground and the stranger is pointing his weapon at Yuuri does he finally think like he should. There's nothing to do or nowhere to go, though. He's panicking as he tries to think his way through this situation until he hears a chuckle.

The stranger puts his sword back into it's sheath and throws the hood to his cape back, revealing his face.

Gasping, Yuuri takes a step back, not sure _at all_ how to handle this. Standing before him is Viktor Nikiforov. _The Viktor Nikiforov._ "W-Why... are y-you..."

Viktor laughs and turns around to help the guard back to his feet. "I like testing the guards in the neighboring towns and cities. I hadn't planned on meeting the prince himself today, but I don't mind the change in plans. It's interesting to see you walking around. I didn't think royalty trusted the people living around them. You obviously think otherwise."

Yuuri's too dumbfounded to really answer to that because the rumors were true. _Viktor Nikiforov_ is in his city.

His guard takes to a kneel in front of the soon-to-be king. "Your Majesty."

"No need for the formalities." Viktor waves his hand, and the guard stands back up. "I do apologies for doing such. I thought it would be perfect. I am interested to see that your prince here doesn't carry a weapon whatsoever on him. That would be dangerous if I was really out to kill him." Viktor winks in his direction.

The guard turns to Yuuri and kneels before him. "My deepest apologies, Your Highness. I will work harder to protect you."

Yuuri bites his lip and motions for the guard to stand. "It's alright! You did well..." He never knows what to do when people kneel in front of him. Yuuri turns to Viktor once more, who's smiling at the scene before him.

"That's all I came to do. Unfortunately, I must leave. I wouldn't want to get yelled at more than I already am." With those parting words, Viktor flips the hood to his cape back up and stalks off.

Baffled, Yuuri stands there watching his retreat. It was such a quick encounter. Leaving as fast as he arrived, Yuuri is even more amazed. His guard snaps him out of the reverie he's stuck in and guides him back to the palace. Once safely inside, his parents greet him and drag him towards the fitting area, as his new tuxedo has arrived. With a last look over his shoulder, he can see the guard heading for the main training grounds. He must be going to report back what had happened.

He doesn't tell anyone what happened. He figures they'll find out as news spreads around the castle.

He nods at his parents as they speak words he doesn't really process. The tailor shakes his hand and shows him the tuxedo he will be wearing to the party.

It takes about an hour before he can leave the fitting and head to his bedroom. There, he lies down on the bed and just... thinks. Mostly it's about Viktor Nikiforov. He still can't get over his appearance in the town he lives in. A tiny, seaside city that trades in moderation with other small cities somehow captured Viktor Nikiforov's attention. He said that he hangs out different cities and towns just to ensure that their guards can do their jobs, but Yuuri knows how long of a journey it would've been to travel here. There's no way someone would travel all that distance just to check on the guards, right? That seems kind of... weird.

There's a lot that doesn't make sense about his appearance in his city, but Viktor Nikiforov has never made sense in general. There are so many different rumors about what he's like. So many that Yuuri has given up trying to understand which ones are right. Maybe someday he'll get an explanation as to who exactly Viktor Nikiforov is.

.

. . .

.

Yuuri shifts the bowtie uncomfortably as he stares at himself in the mirror. The suit he's wearing has a light blue jacket with a gray vest and a frilled white shirt underneath, including black slacks and shiny black shoes. He's found himself uncomfortable every single time he's worn attire as such, but he knows it's what he agreed to.

The party is tonight, but he has to leave now by coach if he plans on making it on time. He's getting two escorts to ensure his safety.

He's already tired, and it hasn't even started yet. He's hoping the time flies by quicker than he knows it will.

"Yuuri! The coach is ready!"

Yuuri sighs at the sound of Hiroko's voice, not quite yet ready to go but knowing he has to. As he walks down the stairs, he hears a whistle come from the bottom. Looking up at him is Mari, who's grinning at him. Of course she's enjoying this. She always teases him whenever he has to get dressed up for events like this since he's always hated them. Trying to make the better of bad times is what she's good at.

"Lookin' sharp."

He rolls his eyes at his sister but blushes anyway with embarrassment. "Thanks," is all that he mutters under his breath as he makes his way to the front door.

"Hey."

Yuuri stops and turns around to face her.

"Try to have a little bit of fun, but not too much. Got it?"

Weakly, he smiles in return and nods. With one last deep breath, Yuuri walks out the door and down the steps leading to the coach. His parents hug him tightly before he steps into the coach, wishing him the best of luck.

He's off within the next few moments, both escorts of his sitting across from him. How he wished he could've brought Phichit with him just to have someone around that he could talk to. He looks out the window for awhile, and once he's bored of it, he decides to take a nap.

That makes the journey fly by because the next thing he knows is one of his escorts is shaking him awake. It's already darker inside, and he wishes more than anything that he could just go back to sleep. Instead, he's helped out of the coach and up the grand stairs to the Crispino Palace.

The Crispino's are a renowned family with two heirs to the throne, Prince Michele and Princess Sala. He could say that he was friends with Princess Sala, but unfortunately Prince Michele would probably find a way to kill him. Sure, it would cause an uproar, but Michele is known to be _very_ overprotective of his sister. There's nothing he wouldn't stop at.

Yuuri sighs at the large amount of people at this event already as he's directed in the ballroom, where so many more are gathered. His name is announced as he enters and makes his way through the crowd of people. His escorts join all the others who are hanging around the walls, securing the building. There are many who say hello to him as he walks by, but he can't even think of their names. He's pretty positive they only know him to be the embarrassment of his family.

As soon as he sits down in hope of just riding out the time, he's bombarded by people at his table.

"Yuuri! You came!"

"Wow, Yuuri. You never told me you were coming. I would've made sure I was better prepared."

And by bombarded, he means spotted by the two people he was hoping would forget his existence: Princess Sala and Prince Chris.

"Hey," Yuuri weakly waves before being brought into a tight hug from Sala.

"I missed you! I'm so glad you came!" Sala pulls back and smiles at him. It's only a minute later that she's sprinting down the length of the ballroom when her eyes catch someone else.

Chris winks at him when they make eye contact. "What made you come tonight? I thought you hated parties."

Yuuri bites into his lip and looks down at the table cloth covering the table. "I made a promise."

"To Sala?" Chris takes a seat across from him with, hand on his chin with a smile Yuuri doesn't want to know the meaning behind.

"No, my family."

Chris says nothing after that. Yuuri expected about that much. They continue to sit in silence before Chris gets up to leave, clearly no longer interested in Yuuri.

He's not sure how long he's sitting by himself, but it's long enough to drive him crazy. The noise around him is only feeding his anxiousness, and he refuses to look for an outlet. Instead, he heads for the double doors that lead to the balcony. There are only a few people on the balcony, discussing small matters or bigger plans he doesn't know. He does know that the night air feels nice, though.

The peace and quiet is ruined when the ladies who came as well tonight to celebrate Sala's birthday start screeching. Yuuri's sure they could be heard from the neighboring counties. The men he's surrounded by on the balcony express their disgust, which makes him all the more curious. He walks slowly back into the ballroom and notice how most of the ladies have made their way towards the entrance of the room. Standing there at the front is, of course, Viktor Nikiforov.

Only Yuuri doesn't roll his eyes like most of the men in the room do. He finds himself strangely fascinated by Viktor. He watches as Viktor makes his way down the steps and towards the center of the ballroom.

It couldn't have possibly happened, but Yuuri believes in the split second that Viktor turned to face one of the ladies on his side that they made eye contact together. There's no way, but Yuuri felt it. They did only just meet recently, so that could be why Viktor did it. He also believes he's looking into this too much. That's definitely it because Viktor is now way more involved with everyone clustered around him. His electric blue eyes that Yuuri remembers from their meetings are trained on the lady he's now dancing with.

Yuuri looks away with embarrassment and makes his way back to the table he sat at previously. It's ridiculous that he's staring at Viktor so much. It's ridiculous that he's even hung up on the Prince the way he is now. Absolutely absurd.

A waiter comes over and offers him a glass of champagne, to which he accepts. He knows his limits now but figures one glass would be fine. Very doable and very necessary at this time.

By the time he's finished the glass in his hands, he's left exasperated over the one person he's hardly interacted with in the room. He has no reason to be, but he just is. The same question from before pops into his mind once more: Just who is Viktor Nikiforov? He can't say he has an answer yet still, though. He's met the man once, and only asked about who he was to his parents another time. His parents hardly gve him an answer either, instead just confusing him more.

It's only until the person standing next to him coughs that he finally looks up from spinning the glass between his fingers. What happens next feels like slow motion. When Yuuri looks up, he's more than just surprised to see Viktor standing in front of him. The glass in his fingers falls, but Viktor reaches down to grab it before it can shatter. Viktor looks up at him and smiles as he places it back on the table.

"That could've been problematic."

"Ah... yes?" Yuuri wants nothing more than to hide at this moment.

Viktor lets out laugh that seems more controlled than the first time they met. It seems like he's trying to make himself sparkle more, Yuuri noted. But just as his laugh suggested, Viktor was in fact doing just that because his appearance followed suit. The dark cape Yuuri saw him in before was gone now and replaced with a dazzling three-piece white tuxedo with a black vest and white ruffled shirt underneath. He had a black-and-white checkered bowtie and a matching silk hankerchief tucked in his suit jacket pocket. Everything about him screamed refined, from his sleeked-back platinum hair to his black-and-white shined dress shoes. He was stunning to look at, leaving Yuuri more speechless than he already was.

"I wonder if you're capable of saying coherant words." Viktor grins at him in a joking manner, clearly trying to elevate the nervousness written across Yuuri's face. It must be painfully obvious.

"I believe I'm way past just coherancy." The comment came out faster than he thinks, and he regrets coming to this party more than ever.

Instead of finding it just a bit insulting, Viktor seems to find it hilarious because he's standing upright and bursting into laughter louder than Yuuri's ever heard from him. It makes Yuuri smile but doesn't quite ease the tension in his shoulders.

"And I believe you're more than correct on that standing topic. Pray tell me, does your humor come from your brooding silence or do you talk to everyone but me? I can't quite seem to figure that out."

Well, he's not wrong about the brooding silence part. That's how he's been all night anyway. "I can assure you the silence is meant for everyone, and the comments are meant only for family. I'm sorry..." Yuuri glances down at his hands and fidgets with his fingers, purely out of habit as usual.

Viktor apparently doesn't enjoy it because he puts his right index finger under Yuuri's chin and lifts his head up. There's a frown written on the Prince's face now, replacing the smile and laughter from mere moments ago. "Don't be sorry. I find it enjoyable. It's not every day someone's able to tell me off. I can assure _you_ that I am able to enjoy the smaller things in life unlike most."

Yuuri's eyes widen at the close proximity between them, making him unable to really process his words. "I.. uhh... I'm sorry."

Viktor says nothing this time and holds the position they are in currently for just a second longer. It's after that second that he backs and slowly draws his finger away from Yuuri's chin. "There's much to learn about you, Prince Katsuki. I can tell."

He stalks off into the crowd once more, and Yuuri realizes he's been holding his breath the whole time. Letting go and trying to bring his breathing to a normal rate, he finds himself unable to let himself relax back into his seat. Instead, his thoughts are back to being centered around Viktor, and all of a sudden, it feels like he's suffocating. The balcony is no longer option since more people have decided to flock there, clearly for fresh air themselves.

He could go out the main entrance, but that could be seen as leaving. It should be alright as long as he comes back in without spending so much time out there. All he needs is one minute in quiet.

Yuuri gets up from his seat and quickens his pace towards the entrance. His escorts notice and stop to ask if there's an issue. After quickly dismissing them, Yuuri all but runs into a deserted hallway. It may not be fresh air like he had originally hoped for, but it's still quiet. Yuuri unties his bowtie and takes deep breath of what feels like fresh air to himself. His face _has_ to be red without a doubt. There's no chance he escaped without expressing how affected he was by his encounter with Viktor Nikiforov.

He's waiting a few more minutes until his breathing has slowed down to a normal rate before he walks out of the hallway he's situated himself in. The table he had sat at by himself before is now occupied with other guests, so instead he hangs back along the wall in front of one of the many long windows.

"Quite the turnout, isn't it?"

Yuuri jumps about a mile in the air to hear a voice next to him. It's Chris again. In a room of hundreds of people, he wants to know why this is the kind of luck that graces him.

"There are a lot of people." But he does agree with Chris. This party is probably the biggest he's ever been to in a while.

"I'm surprised you're still sticking around. Is that also because of that promise?" Chris reaches forward and steals a champagne glass from one of the waiters passing by.

Yuuri shakes his head and sighs. "I don't know why I'm staying."

Chris laughs pretty loudly beside him. "I'm not surprised, but ouch. That would _really_ hurt a specific someone. Ah, in speaking of which..." Chris backs away from the wall and starts walking towards the center of the ballroom, pushing through the crowd.

 _What could that possibly mean?_ There's no point in trying to understand Chris, though. He's been trying for years and still can't get an answer. He does try to find Chris in the crowd, though. It gives him something to do.

Somehow , he's not surprised to find him by Viktor's side. The two princes have been rumored to be great friends. They go to almost every event together, and visit each other's lands all the time. It doesn't seem much like a rumor, but it's kept at one for many reasons. Chris also comes from a largely populated city. He's the king in charge at the moment as well and currently doing so without a spouse by his side. It hasn't happened in awhile, but it's definitely not rare to see someone rule one their own. It's also interesting to note that his parents died when he was at a young age, so he's been in power for a long time. Fooling around like the rumors say he does would reflect badly on a king if any of them were to be proven correct, so that's how they stay. As just rumors.

Yuuri spends more time watching Viktor that he realizes he should, but he can't help it. He's met the man only twice, and both of their encounters were abrupt and... interesting. He wishes he had the courage to cross the room and talk with him more, but he can't. He's seen two different versions of the man as well. One, as though they've known each other for awhile, and the other in the manner that seems more like the rumors rather than what he's experienced. It makes his head spin.

There's a tap on his shoulder that alarms him, until he realizes it's just one of his escorts.

"It's time to leave, Your Highness. Unless you would like to stay longer?"

Yuuri glances back around at the room, eyes landing on Viktor once more. Only this time, Viktor's eyes are trained on him as well. Electric blue meets dark brown once more. Yuuri feels likes he's being held in place by his gaze, like he's not allowed to break the contact.

"Your Highness?"

His escort snaps him out of the reverie, forcing him to look at the guard. Processing what had happened later than he would like, Yuuri looks for Viktor again to see that he's turned away and is focusing his attention on the crowd surrounding him.

"It would be best if I left."

As he begins walking towards the entrance, he looks behind his shoulder and finds himself making eye contact with Viktor once more. Yuuri turns away immediately, blushing as he leaves the ballroom.

It's ridiculous that something so small is so mind-consuming.

Stepping into the coach, he tries to forget about Viktor and his eyes that tell secrets. He tries to forget both of their conversations.

Of course that doesn't happen, though, and he finds himself thinking about everything the entire trip back home. Even when he's welcomed back by his family, he's hardly able to keep him out of his mind for two seconds. Mari can tell he's distracted, while his parents think nothing of it. He slips the suit jacket off and throws it at the end of his bed once he's made his way back up to his room. After undoing his bowtie, he sets it down on his desk and untucks his shirt. Then he throws himself on his bed, and it's only until then that he can really think with a clearer mind.

He's discovered that the urge he felt to understand Viktor seems to be a more permanent feeling, one he can't quite place as of yet. There's something about their two conversations that doesn't seem to quite add up. He's replayed the words hundreds of times, and somehow it seemed a little off to him. Moreso, the uneasiness is fitted to the moment when Viktor asked if Yuuri was avoiding him. It seems out of place now that he's actually thinking about what was said. But much like the man himself, it doesn't make any sense. It's not like they've seen each other at any other event. Viktor has never been present at any of them.

There's a knock on his door that makes him sit upright and dismiss his thoughts momentarily. "Come in?"

Mari opens the door and leans against the doorframe. "How'd it go?"

Yuuri bites his lip and wonders what exactly he should tell her. It wasn't like he didn't enjoy it, but that could be because his thoughts were too focused on Viktor. Now that he thinks about, he never really talked to anyone but Chris and Viktor - oh, and the small conversation he had with Sala when she first saw him enter.

"Not awful?" He really hopes that should suffice, but Mari doesn't really looked convinced of his answer.

"And?" Definitely not convinced.

"And what?"

"What happened? You seemed weird when you came back."

Mari never misses a thing. It's like her radar is always on when it comes to him.

Sighing, Yuuri falls back onto his bed and stares at the ceiling. "I don't know."

"Hm?" He can hear the confusion in her voice, but he still doesn't know what to say. It's not like he really understands what happened himself either.

"What do you think about Prince Nikiforov, Mari?" Yuuri turns his head to look at her.

She raises an eyebrow in his direction, clearly wondering what's up. "What'd he do?"

"What?" Yuuri sits upright on the bed.

"I mean... you wouldn't ask if something didn't happen, right? So what'd he do?" She crosses her arms over her chest.

"I'm just curious."

Mari sighs. "This is the second time you've brought him up this week. Did you say anything to you?"

"No. Well... yes, but nothing that means anything. I'm just... confused. I don't really know what he meant by anything."

She stays silent for a moment, not saying anything. The hand to her chin does imply that she's thinking about what to say, though. "I've heard he's nice to those around him, but I've also heard that if you anger him, you should fear for your life. That's it."

Not really helpful. It's exactly what all the rumors have said. "Thanks, Mari. I'll figure it out."

"Okay." And she leaves, shutting the door behind her.

It's odd for him to feel so... enchanted - he supposes that's the right word - over a person. It's like Viktor has him under some kind of spell that transfixes him on his person. How odd.

But then another thought occurs him, and it's one that he thought of before but never actually thought _hard_ about.

Is Viktor interested in someone?

He's embarrassede even thinking about it, but he is curious.

Viktor has never really shown up to these events before, and now all of a sudden he appears at Princess Sala's party. Does he have a particular interest in her? He's never heard her say anything about him, but then again everyone wants Viktor. Maybe he's interested in finding someone after all this time of not looking for a relationship. Did the King of his land make him come? Maybe there was some other reason for his presence tonight that Yuuri just doesn't know.

How ridiculous. It's two in the morning, and he's concerning himself over the relationship matters of the prince he's only recently met. It should ridiculous, but now he's invested more than he should be. He can feel his cheeks burning with the embarrassment, but there's something unsettling to him about the idea of him loving another.

Does he want Viktor to find him interesting in that way? Why is that even a thought? They're both princes from two different lands. They've hardly met! But then he remembers that Chris is rumored to be involved with a prince in another land, so it would seem to be possible...

No! He can't possibly mean to think of Prince Nikiforov in this manner! It would repulse the man if he ever knew! Yuuri would be eaten alive by those in the village if they knew. There's no way.

He knows there's no way...

Yuuri finds himself wishing that he's not in love with anyone else, that no one else is waiting on him.

He knows he shouldn't...

But he can't keep these thoughts out of his head.

So he decides that he will keep wondering about Viktor, until they meet again someday.

And he prays that when they do meet, Viktor will be waiting on him, too.


End file.
